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The discovery of dozens of birch-bark documents in Russia has revealed what life was like from the 11th to 15th Century.

Each has a various message inscribed on bits of wood, preserved in mud for centuries until the present day.

The finds include a shopping list of sorts sent from a father to his son asking for a shirt, towel, trousers, reins for a horse presumably and fabric.

Dozens of writings from the 14th century have been found in Russia. The birch-bark documents were found in the ancient city of Novgorod. This particular birch-bark document from between 1240 and 1260 was drawn by a boy thought to be between six and seven years old

Reported by the New York Times, the documents apparently cover a number of topics also including business transactions and accusations of crime.

The findings were made in the ancient city of Novgorod, an important old Russian city.

Founded in 859, it boasts the country's first customs office and school, among other cultural milestones, and it is here about 1,000 birch-bark documents have been found.

One, written by a father named Onus to his son Danilo in the 14th century, says: 'Send me a shirt, towel, trousers, reins, and, for my sister, send fabric.'

The apparent 'shopping list' seems to end with some humour as Onus adds: 'If I am alive, I will pay for it.'

Another, dated from between 1280 to 1300, from a man named Mikita to a woman named Anna, rather bluntly states: 'Marry me. I want you, and you want me.'

Before the advent of paper, birch bark was often used to write on.

The oldest birch bark manuscripts in the world date back to the 1st Century, the Gandhāran Buddhist texts that originated in Afghanistan.

These latest findings, though, provide an insight into the history of Russia.

Most are written in Old Novgorod dialect, a diverse form of Slavic language that is fairly conversational in tone. 

The findings were made in the ancient city of Novgorod, an important old Russian city. Founded in 859, it boasts the country's first customs office and school, among other cultural milestones, and it is here about 1,000 birch-bark documents have been found

This letter dated between 1100 and 1120 was written by a person from Zhiznomira to Mikula. It discusses how they bought a slave in Pskov but the slave was stolen by the person they are writing to. They ask them to return the slave so that they may have money to get a horse or the situation could escalate

To create them they were etched with styluses made of bronze and iron in place of ink. 

The wooden letters were able to survive remarkably intact because the muddy soil kept them isolated from oxygen.

They come from the 11th to 15th centuries and are commonly found where streets used to be, as the logs they once rested on have sunk into the ground.

Many of these particular findings are thought to be from a garden and apple orchard, while the area itself is believed to have had wooden buildings. 

'Novgorod for Russia is like Pompeii for Italy,' Pyotr G. Gaidukov, the deputy director of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Archaeology, told the New York Times.

'Only Novgorod is still alive.'

It's likely more such remarkable findings will be made in future as excavations continue.